Lenovo is the latest of the PC manufacturers to announce details about its upcoming Windows 8 machines. Like manufacturers we've seen at CES, Computex, and IFA this year, Lenovo is betting big on hybrid systems to drive its Windows 8 sales. The IdeaPad Yoga 11 and 13 both have flexible screens that allow their bases to be used as monitor stands, the IdeaTab Lynx is another Intel Atom tablet with a keyboard dock, and the ThinkPad Twist is Lenovo's take on the laptop that turns into a tablet.

IdeaPad Yoga 11 and 13

The two IdeaPad Yoga tablets are identical in concept: the display hinge allows the computers' displays to be flipped 360 degrees, converting them into tablets and serving as adjustable stands. Both come in two colors: the rather staid Silver Gray and the distinctive Clementine Orange.

On the inside, though, the tablet-esque laptops are very different. The 11.6" Yoga 11, which starts at $799, is a Windows RT device with the following specs:

NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor

1366×768 five-point touchscreen

2GB of RAM

"Up to" 64GB of storage

802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0

720p webcam,Two USB 2.0 ports

HDMI port

Card reader

The Yoga 11 is particularly interesting because it's the first non-tablet Windows RT device that we've seen so far. All of the others have included some sort of keyboard dock to enable operation as a standard laptop, but this is the only one that is more laptop than tablet despite its touchscreen. Lenovo says it should get up to 13 hours on one charge.

IdeaTab Lynx

The IdeaTab Lynx looks more like other Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets we've seen—a standalone tablet with an optional keyboard dock accessory.

Internally, the tablet has much in common with Acer's Iconia W510, but in a slightly larger 11.6" form factor. The Lynx comes with:

A 1366×768 five-point IPS touchscreen

Clover Trail-based Intel Atom Z2760

2GB of low-power DDR2

Either 32GB or 64GB of storage

802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0

2 megapixel front-facing camera

Micro USB 2.0 port, a Micro HDMI port, and a microSD card slot.

The tablet by itself, which starts at $599, is rated at about eight hours of battery life, but the $149 keyboard dock's extra battery boosts this to about 16 hours. The dock also adds two full-size USB 2.0 ports to the tablet. Unlike Acer's W510, the Lynx's keyboard dock appears to use the same keyboard as other Lenovo laptops, which should make it a bit more comfortable for long typing sessions.

ThinkPad Twist

Lastly, we have the ThinkPad Twist, a business-class offering that is more in line with some other convertible laptops we've seen. The screen flips down and swivels around to cover the keyboard, converting it from an Ultrabook-like laptop into a husky tablet.

The laptop starts at $849, but that price is in part due to the its use of old-school hard drives: a 128GB SSD is an option, but the cheaper models will use 320GB and 500GB HDDs.

Lenovo's press releases didn't mention specific availability for any of these devices, but we expect them all to make the Windows 8 launch window—the company is hosting an event this evening, and we'll be reporting back with any additional information and with our in-person impressions of the new hardware.

The only one of the bunch sparking any interest to me is the Lenovo. It is perfect, laptop and tablet. With a stylus it would be my one stop shop. Gateway used to make these and Panasonic is the only vendor offering something like it on their tough book series. I have no idea why companies stopped offering these back in 2004.

Do any of these have the trackpoint (aka "The Nipple") on them? If not, it's a shame, as it's one of the strong points of Thinkpad's, at least in my opinion. Especially for coding, where much of my time is spend typing, the trackpoint is great because I don't have to remove either hand from the keyboard.

The only one of the bunch sparking any interest to me is the Lenovo. It is perfect, laptop and tablet. With a stylus it would be my one stop shop. Gateway used to make these and Panasonic is the only vendor offering something like it on their tough book series. I have no idea why companies stopped offering these back in 2004.

Both Fujitsu and Lenovo have had these sorts of tablets for quite awhile (assuming that's the one you're talking about; all the tablets in the article are Lenovos.)

Do any of these have the trackpoint (aka "The Nipple") on them? If not, it's a shame, as it's one of the strong points of Thinkpad's, at least in my opinion. Especially for coding, where much of my time is spend typing, the trackpoint is great because I don't have to remove either hand from the keyboard.

Do any of these have the trackpoint (aka "The Nipple") on them? If not, it's a shame, as it's one of the strong points of Thinkpad's, at least in my opinion. Especially for coding, where much of my time is spend typing, the trackpoint is great because I don't have to remove either hand from the keyboard.

The Thinkpad at the end will likely have it (seems to be part of their Edge category), but the rest i fear will not.

Anyone know of a list of all the different windows 8 configurations OEMs are going to sell? So far I can recall the yoga, the old tablet/twist format, the one with the screen on the outside and the inside and detachable.

And not a single 4:3 screen in the bunch. What a waste. These are terrible aspect ratios for anything but video.

I don't understand the downvotes on your comment; you're right. Most of my users who work in programs such as photoshop, Maya, CAD, etc all use 16:10 or squarer displays. 16:9 are used in portrait mode, if at all. In landscape mode they suck for anything other than video.

And not a single 4:3 screen in the bunch. What a waste. These are terrible aspect ratios for anything but video.

I don't understand the downvotes on your comment; you're right. Most of my users who work in programs such as photoshop, Maya, CAD, etc all use 16:10 or squarer displays. 16:9 are used in portrait mode, if at all. In landscape mode they suck for anything other than video.

In case you didn't realize by now, these tablets are consumption devices. They're not designed for CAD.

Well the general market didn't at least. But they seems to hit on some vertical markets. Never mind that power efficiency has become a much bigger thing since then, as has the availability of mobile data connectivity.

I need some serious, low-level details on what the bootloader situation on these things is before I go anywhere near them. The Secure UEFI situation stinks like the locked bootloaders on most Android (and every other kind of) phones. Wanna run custom software? Here's some big flaming hoops to jump through. No thanks!

I wish some of these would add on a Thunderbolt port so we can eGPU dock the laptop when at home. Thunderbolt external PCI cases are just one the verge of introduction so it is unlikely to happen for the next year or so ... but it is nice to dream.

I need some serious, low-level details on what the bootloader situation on these things is before I go anywhere near them. The Secure UEFI situation stinks like the locked bootloaders on most Android (and every other kind of) phones. Wanna run custom software? Here's some big flaming hoops to jump through. No thanks!

Windows RT (the ARM version) has a permanently enabled Secure Boot. All x86 anything and everything have it enabled by default but it's mandatory that they allow you a way to turn it off.

The only one of the bunch sparking any interest to me is the Lenovo. It is perfect, laptop and tablet. With a stylus it would be my one stop shop. Gateway used to make these and Panasonic is the only vendor offering something like it on their tough book series. I have no idea why companies stopped offering these back in 2004.

I have to agree, I'd be sorely tempted to order that Lynx <i>now</i> if it were available. The next couple months should be mighty interesting

I wish some of these would add on a Thunderbolt port so we can eGPU dock the laptop when at home. Thunderbolt external PCI cases are just one the verge of introduction so it is unlikely to happen for the next year or so ... but it is nice to dream.

Meh, thunderbolt is only 1x. a proper GPU can saturate a 16x if the rest of the hardware can keep up.

What is it win these win8 tablet designers and ergonomics ? Placing the "windows" button on the bottom of the tablet screen is one of the worse possible location: you need that button pretty much every 2 minutes (thanks to win8 uncomfortable UI) but they place it where you're guarantee to have to use two hands to use it.

What is it win these win8 tablet designers and ergonomics ? Placing the "windows" button on the bottom of the tablet screen is one of the worse possible location: you need that button pretty much every 2 minutes (thanks to win8 uncomfortable UI) but they place it where you're guarantee to have to use two hands to use it.

There's a software start button on the right side when you're holding the tablet in landscape orientation. you swipe from off the screen onto it with your thumb then tap.

And not a single 4:3 screen in the bunch. What a waste. These are terrible aspect ratios for anything but video.

I don't understand the downvotes on your comment; you're right. Most of my users who work in programs such as photoshop, Maya, CAD, etc all use 16:10 or squarer displays. 16:9 are used in portrait mode, if at all. In landscape mode they suck for anything other than video.

In case you didn't realize by now, these tablets are consumption devices. They're not designed for CAD.

If you read the article the final one (the Twist) is "Lastly, we have the ThinkPad Twist, a business-class offering " - there was a reasonable expectation that a business-class/professional device might have resolution higher than those devices that are targeted for the 'unwashed masses'.

With that being said, why on earth would anyone being doing high end CAD, Maya or Photoshop on a laptop in the first place god only knows; want grunt with a big screen with high resolution then that is what workstations are designed - stop trying to turn a device designed for portability into your 'moveable desktop'.

Can someone explain what I should get if I just want 15" intel laptop with SSD drive? I would really like it if it is thin and a touch screen would be a plus. I don't think I've seen anything that is not between 10 and 13 inches with Win8 up to now.

I was talking about the think pad twist and well, they did sell, just not on the bulk. They have a specific market. They should've just kept one around. Well see how these perform. Worst case scenario I can wipe them and still use them with whatever is I desire. These next months should be very amusing and interesting.

Having used a couple of 12-inch ThinkPads, I think they're a sweet point for many uses. I have a couple of 15-inch ThinkPads now and I also wonder why Lenovo can't take all the good points (like power, discrete graphics, hi-res screen, and replaceable battery), toss the keyboard, and add a touch-screen to produce a mainline tablet. ThinkPads have to work and to last, but they need to play a little, too. I'd like to see both 12.5 and 15-inch tablets offered, but not for four or five pounds. That's getting into the tabletop tablet, and I think Microsoft tried that a few years back.

The only one of the bunch sparking any interest to me is the Lenovo. It is perfect, laptop and tablet. With a stylus it would be my one stop shop. Gateway used to make these and Panasonic is the only vendor offering something like it on their tough book series. I have no idea why companies stopped offering these back in 2004.

The Thinkpad Tablet 2, launching on October 26, has a wacom digitizer and even an onboard silo to store it in. It's a 10" Clover Trail tablet with an unusual fixed-angle keyboard dock (complete with trackpoint for real ThinkPad street cred).

And not a single 4:3 screen in the bunch. What a waste. These are terrible aspect ratios for anything but video.

I don't understand the downvotes on your comment; you're right. Most of my users who work in programs such as photoshop, Maya, CAD, etc all use 16:10 or squarer displays. 16:9 are used in portrait mode, if at all. In landscape mode they suck for anything other than video.

In case you didn't realize by now, these tablets are consumption devices. They're not designed for CAD.

If you read the article the final one (the Twist) is "Lastly, we have the ThinkPad Twist, a business-class offering " - there was a reasonable expectation that a business-class/professional device might have resolution higher than those devices that are targeted for the 'unwashed masses'.

With that being said, why on earth would anyone being doing high end CAD, Maya or Photoshop on a laptop in the first place god only knows; want grunt with a big screen with high resolution then that is what workstations are designed - stop trying to turn a device designed for portability into your 'moveable desktop'.

Take a look at the Cintiq line of digitizer displays. One of their most popular units is the 12" model, and many of my users use exactly that, with the common lament that they're tethered to a cable while in use. A tablet would be perfect for this, and would need no more processing power than they currently have to interface with the main pc.

The users I work with are all professionals in various creative lines of work, and would be quite happy to spend money on tablets that took their use profile in to consideration.

Their bottom line is 600 for a tablet with same power as a net-book.Way to much in my opinion for the bottom line. At these prices they are gonna die like they did in the late 90's

I will stick with my laptop and its 12 cell battery that last all day with out a charge. I really wanted a tablet, but not that bad.

I hope some the manufacturers put out a few $199.00 RTs. I would prefer a real processor like the Atom for $199 model, not a cell phone CPU. I just look down on the arm chips. No way a snap dragon processor can handle the background resources a well used desktop or laptop environment will have after many months of cache build up. The RT is a waste, and is 600, what a disappointment.

I have a felling these tablets are going to have a hard time competing with Apple due to these prices. I hope they get more reasonable with their pricing or another great generation of products is just going to fail to catch on........... again.

Can someone explain what I should get if I just want 15" intel laptop with SSD drive? I would really like it if it is thin and a touch screen would be a plus. I don't think I've seen anything that is not between 10 and 13 inches with Win8 up to now.

A split purchase fills your need. Any x86 machine that fits your needs and a Win8 Upgrade to install post-purchase. Unless you are looking for a WinRT (ARM) computer, you are permitted to replace the default OS.

As soon as the official release of Win8 is complete you will start to see Win8 as the default OS on all machines sold with a Win7 downgrade available, but today Win7 is the default and Win8 is the "Soon to be released upgrade you can apply later". I have already seen ads stating that you are buying a Win7 computer with a coupon good for a 'free' Win8 upgrade after the Win8 release date.

ThinkPad Twist looks awful in the tablet mode. Look at the huge, thick bezel round the LCD. It seems even the designers of the tablet where not happy with the 16:9 screen and tried to visually trick the user to think the screen is more square like than it is by using a thicker bezel on narrower side of the LCD.

Just imagine what it would look like if the bezel was thin, e.g. 1cm and the LCD filled the whole area. Ah, I think they thought that would be just too amazing for a PC and we should continue to give users crap designs.

I wish some of these would add on a Thunderbolt port so we can eGPU dock the laptop when at home. Thunderbolt external PCI cases are just one the verge of introduction so it is unlikely to happen for the next year or so ... but it is nice to dream.

Meh, thunderbolt is only 1x. a proper GPU can saturate a 16x if the rest of the hardware can keep up.

I am not sure but I think there are already products claiming 4x over Thunderbolt. I am not sure on the actual bandwidth of the Thunderbolt interface but Intel claim they will improve that with their fibre optics in the semi-near future.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.